﻿Motivations: Socio-economic status (SES) is a major source of health disparities. Those
who lived in resource-deficient social and physical environments and with low individual
income have been found to be at increased risk of physical inactivity. In Hong Kong there
is virtually no research on the effect of SES on adolescent physical activity (PA). It is
therefore important to explore the SES differentials in PA among Hong Kong adolescents
and identify the mechanisms underlying such differentials. It is also important to examine
the extent to which SES acts as a moderator and mediator of associations between various
potential determinants of adolescent PA.
Methods: A hundred eighty-one adolescents aged 12-18 were recruited in the study. This
study applied an ecological framework to study the SES effects on adolescents’ PA
participation. Physical activity was measured both objectively using accelerometers and
subjectively using self-reports. Individual, social and school environment factors were
assessed by validated self-report measures. Neighborhood built environmental factors
were assessed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data. Individual-level SES
was based on parents’ report of monthly household income, while area-level SES was
based on census data on median household income of selected study neighborhoods.
Generalized linear models with robust standard errors were used to assess associations of
individual, social and environmental factors with adolescents’ PA. They were also used
to assess the moderating of SES and mediators of SES-PA relationships.
Results: The results supported the hypothesis that individual, social and environmental
factors would all contribute to the explanation of adolescents’ PA. Moderation analyses
showed that the PA level of adolescents living in low SES areas might have been
negatively affected by the presence of steep streets in the neighborhood environment and
the lack of sports facilities. These effects were not observed in adolescents living in high
SES areas. In contrast, only adolescents living in high-SES areas showed positive
associations of school-based social support and school PA-related environment with PA.
Mediation analyses showed that SES differences in adolescents PA participation could be
explained by social support from family and access to sports/recreational facilities
in/around the school.
Significance: The current findings would imply that environmental interventions at the
neighborhood level might benefit low-SES groups of adolescents as they seem to be more
influenced by aspects of the neighborhood environment. By contrast, high-SES
adolescents might be more reactive to school-based environmental interventions. To
narrow the SES gap in PA participation among Hong Kong adolescents, interventions
should encourage low-SES families to provide more support to their children by
widening the available range of opportunities for PA, encouraging their children to
participate in PA, and acting as role models. The findings from this study also suggest
that the provision of more PA facilities in/around school neighborhood in low-SES areas
could contribute to increasing PA participation among the adolescent population of such
areas and, thus, narrow the gap between high- and low-SES groups of adolescents.

﻿Motivations: Socio-economic status (SES) is a major source of health disparities. Those
who lived in resource-deficient social and physical environments and with low individual
income have been found to be at increased risk of physical inactivity. In Hong Kong there
is virtually no research on the effect of SES on adolescent physical activity (PA). It is
therefore important to explore the SES differentials in PA among Hong Kong adolescents
and identify the mechanisms underlying such differentials. It is also important to examine
the extent to which SES acts as a moderator and mediator of associations between various
potential determinants of adolescent PA.
Methods: A hundred eighty-one adolescents aged 12-18 were recruited in the study. This
study applied an ecological framework to study the SES effects on adolescents’ PA
participation. Physical activity was measured both objectively using accelerometers and
subjectively using self-reports. Individual, social and school environment factors were
assessed by validated self-report measures. Neighborhood built environmental factors
were assessed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data. Individual-level SES
was based on parents’ report of monthly household income, while area-level SES was
based on census data on median household income of selected study neighborhoods.
Generalized linear models with robust standard errors were used to assess associations of
individual, social and environmental factors with adolescents’ PA. They were also used
to assess the moderating of SES and mediators of SES-PA relationships.
Results: The results supported the hypothesis that individual, social and environmental
factors would all contribute to the explanation of adolescents’ PA. Moderation analyses
showed that the PA level of adolescents living in low SES areas might have been
negatively affected by the presence of steep streets in the neighborhood environment and
the lack of sports facilities. These effects were not observed in adolescents living in high
SES areas. In contrast, only adolescents living in high-SES areas showed positive
associations of school-based social support and school PA-related environment with PA.
Mediation analyses showed that SES differences in adolescents PA participation could be
explained by social support from family and access to sports/recreational facilities
in/around the school.
Significance: The current findings would imply that environmental interventions at the
neighborhood level might benefit low-SES groups of adolescents as they seem to be more
influenced by aspects of the neighborhood environment. By contrast, high-SES
adolescents might be more reactive to school-based environmental interventions. To
narrow the SES gap in PA participation among Hong Kong adolescents, interventions
should encourage low-SES families to provide more support to their children by
widening the available range of opportunities for PA, encouraging their children to
participate in PA, and acting as role models. The findings from this study also suggest
that the provision of more PA facilities in/around school neighborhood in low-SES areas
could contribute to increasing PA participation among the adolescent population of such
areas and, thus, narrow the gap between high- and low-SES groups of adolescents.

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dc.language

eng

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dc.publisher

The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong)

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dc.relation.ispartof

HKU Theses Online (HKUTO)

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dc.rights

The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works.

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dc.rights

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.